Breaking News

Hot Topics:

Headlines

Rosen: A mosquerade at ground zero

By Mike Rosen

Posted:
08/26/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT

The air is thick with specious arguments in support of the mosque at ground zero:

• If two blocks is too close, where do you draw the line? How far away would be acceptable? Thee blocks, 10, a mile? Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once explained that he couldn't precisely define pornography but he knew it when he saw it. Two blocks from ground zero is too close. A precisely respectable distance can't be defined, but here's a thought: Far enough away so that from ground zero one can't hear the daily Muslim calls to prayer that would blare from the loudspeakers.

• There are topless bars near ground zero. So? They were there before 9/11, along with newsstands that carry Playboy, but the World Trade Center towers weren't attacked in the name of topless bars.

• Religious freedom is protected by the First Amendment. True, but beside the point. This isn't a legal question. Opponents aren't arguing that government should bar the mosque on private property. They're engaging in moral suasion, urging New York Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf to abandon this location on the basis of propriety and build it somewhere else. Yes, Muslims have feelings, too, but given the religious mission of the 9/11 murderers and the inordinate loss of non-suicidal, non-Muslim life in this case, the sensibilities of survivors and families of those killed should take precedence.

Advertisement

• This is "Islamophobia." The 9/11 attack was the work of only 19 fanatics. Nonsense; they were just the murder weapon. We distinguish between peace-loving Muslims and jihadists. Al-Qaeda has outposts all over the world. If only 10 percent of Muslims worldwide (and that's a generous estimate) are either jihadists or jihadist sympathizers, there are more than 100 million fanatics committed to exterminating the infidels (most of the rest of the world). A "phobia" is an irrational fear. There's nothing irrational about defending ourselves from this ongoing and metastasizing threat.

The mosque at ground zero was originally dubbed Cordoba House, a symbol of brotherly love and Muslim tolerance of Christians and Jews dating back to the 8th century. But that's the laundered, Camelot version of Islam following the Muslim conquest of Cordoba and Andalusia in 711. Christians and Jews were tolerated but only on Muslim terms, their places of worship expropriated by mosques and intermittently given the choice of conversion, exile or death during the 700 years of Muslim rule, until Spain finally overthrew the occupiers. The original Cordoba mosque was erected on the site of a destroyed Christian church, the habit of Muslim conquerors in other places to symbolize their victory over infidels. Cordoba House at ground zero will be celebrated as a symbol of conquest by many Muslims.

If Imam Rauf had intended this project as an exercise in bridge-building and reconciliation, the reaction of the American public makes it painfully obvious that he has failed. Stubbornly pursuing it will only make matters worse. New York Gov. David Paterson has proposed a compromise: offering state-owned land elsewhere free of charge.

Wherever he builds his mosque and "community center," the imam will have the opportunity to demonstrate his dedication to the moderation of Islam and its introduction to the 21st century, if that's what he truly desires. He could start by renouncing the barbarism of Sharia law, which is wholly incompatible with the values and laws of the United States and the civilized world. Also consider that, born of a Muslim father, President Obama's conversion to Christianity makes him an apostate in the eyes of Islamic fundamentalists. The punishment for this worst of all crimes by a Muslim is beheading. He should be careful when meeting with Ahmadinejad.

Just as Christianity was elevated by the Reformation, begun in the 16th century, Islam is long overdue for such reform. Who will lead it?

Missy Franklin, Jenny Simpson, Adeline Gray and three other Colorado women could be big players at the 2016 Rio OlympicsWhen people ask Missy Franklin for her thoughts about the Summer Olympics that will begin a year from Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, she hangs a warning label on her answer.